Mealtime Pictures

We just had to take pictures of Jasmin eating "mii" - she had so much fun and it is an okay food for her - but then Grace insisted on pictures of everyone....

Its all about hats right now for Grace - but never to go out in, of course!



Mommy wasn't given time to do anything but smile, but Daddy got to pose...

can you see all Grace's artwork on the wall behind him? She's quite prolific! And the bottom sticker art is a work in progress :o)

Jasmin trying out new food...


She did actually enjoy it - really! She always screws up her face the first taste. But we paid for it las night: between 2 and 4 she cried and screamed and arched her back continually. I walked her around our courtyard until she cried herself out. I felt vaguely sorry for the neighbours, but more for Jasmin who is proving to be rather sensitive to various foods. In fact, rice and banana seem to be the only failsafe foods currently! We are working on changing our lax style of weaning - Grace had no problems with anything!

Yesterday on our way home we stopped in the new toy store...

Boing! Boing! Boing! says Grace, with her whole herd of "horsies"

Jasmin ound something to enjoy too!

It has been an out and about week of getting errands done. Grace and Jasmin have enjoyed the extra trips out, but mommy's feet haven't! We spent a morning at the market trying to find the right place to get our flashlights fixed (unsuccessfully), buying some gifts and clothes, and some other errands. Another day we hunted down the correct place for dying some stained clothes - a great cheap way of getting more out of clothes!

Here are a few pictures from he time we did spend at home:

Free play with a box of watercolors. Grace loved it! She had fantastic concentration painting each toe, the bottoms of her feet, etc.
Game of badminton anyone? Grace is learning to bat a bouncy ball around with a badminton racquet; Jasmin had to have a go as well - though being confined to a horizontal position made things rather difficult. Not that it stopped her having fun!

Tuesday evening we got to visit one of the villages where literacy classes are being held. All programs begin in the mother tongue (here Krung) and transition into Khmer so the children can attend government schools successfully. It was exciting to finally be where "the rubber meets the road" and see our training in action!

A Krung house

The village is on a hillside, a ragged circle of houses around a longhouse in a large clearing. The Krung are slash-and-burn farmers, harvesting fruit, cashews, root vegetables, etc.

Evening bath time

Watching the evening's activities before the classes started revealed a very communal society. So far removed from Phnom Penh's high fences and gated yards with barbed wire and iron grills!

The classes for Krung literacy were packed, with kids and adults lining the walls as well as the rough benches. They had a late start as one class had trouble getting the light to stay on (a bulb connected to a car battery), another waiting for a late teacher, and the last for enough students (the Khmer literacy class is harder and only is attended by the truly eager students). We left well before the end, as the classes often go to 10 pm!

A Week in Rattanakiri Province

It was a 9 1/2 hour "taxi" ride to get there. We were picked up by the 15-seater minivan-taxi about 6 am. We didn't actually leave the city until about 7:30 as we drove around picking up passengers. There were a lot of stops in the first hours of the journey, wearing on our patience; but the second half there were not enough stops, wearing on our bladder control :o) Thankfully Jasmin and Grace travel really well and didn't cause a fuss. Even though they slept a fair bit on the way, they still found travel exhausting enough to go to sleep quickly that night! Jasmin decided to use Grace as a pillow - something Grace would not put up with if she were awake! In act, seeing the picture she wails "No, no"!

Grace thoroughly enjoyed our stay in BanLung town. She explored outside areas to her heart's content. Here is one "neighbour" that particularly captured her attention:
We all enjoyed the opportunity to be outside each day, reveling in the open spaces and cooler weather. Each morning we walked to market to buy breakfast there. The sunrise was always beautiful and we loved it - even if the beauty was mostly caused by the constant dust haze!

It is surely a different world up there, but we sure didn't expect to find cacti!

The team there gave us a great welcome, and made our stay wonderful. Not only having us over for meals, explaining the work there, etc., but also helping out when Liz finally succumbed to the huge cold that the others have finally gotten over. Grace, Jasmin and Michael all recovered faster while there, but then Liz got it... the kids were wonderful and enjoyed the extra play dates without mommy.
and the new discoveries - here Teletubbies!and even learned to help - here washing the day's clothes. We washed clothes daily so the incessant red dust didn't permanently dye our clothes. We'll have to think through a careful wardrobe that will survive this red place when we come back!

We came home a day earlier than planned because of it, but all we went to do still got accomplished. Even in the few short days there, we quickly felt at home: we can hardly wait to return there to work!

Case in point : She found the sunscreen lotion when mommy thought she was occupied attempting to put on mommy's socks and sneakers.... And this is just her! The tube, the floor, the nearby backpack, and the door were fully smeared too. All in about 3 minutes while mommy was distracted... :o)

The last week or so I have been extra busy: Grace has entered a stage of heightened "discover and destroy"... She can now unzip, unscrew, unfasten just about anything - as well as how to get up, in, on, behind to find those things to undo! I can't leave her alone for any amount of time without having a rescue/tidy up job to see to upon returning my attention to her. And with Jasmin almost crawling as well.... lots of fun for mommy :o)

I'm aware more and more how much she learns from me, and how careful I must be not to teach her bad things (tossing an orange to Michael), bad attitudes (impatience, selfishness, crossness), bad habits (laziness in tidying up, ignoring someone who wants attention, interrupting, leaving something unfinished).... being mommy really wakes me up to all the "bad" still comfortably resident in me.

But there is also the times of profound complete trust to balance the exposure of all the bad.